I’m going to try and do at least one survey question a month here, starting with this one. Please mention this survey to all your Yankees fans friends. I’m interested in seeing what Yankees fans think on this one. And, of course, feel free to leave comments in the comment section of this entry. This survey deals with playoff losses in the “Torre Era” (hence, Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS is not included).

Update, 1/4/07: This poll is now closed. Game 7 of the 2001 World Series gets the nod. To see the results, click on the thumbnail below:

Comments on December 2006 Survey Question

Well, mine isn’t on the list. Game 7, 2004 ALCS. I know the finish wasn’t quite as dramatic as some others, but Damon’s grand slam is still the low point of my Yankee fandom. It didn’t feel truly real until then, and in an instant became all too real. Ugh.

I was there for Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS – and, it was painful. After that, I was totally numb for Game 7 and prepared for the worst. Still, they were so close in Game 4 and 5 – that’s why I listed them instead of 6 or 7.

“It’s definitely the 2001 Game 7. I think most Yankee fans who answer otherwise have simply repressed the horrible memory of that damn looping liner”

Absolutely true. Objectively, it was probably the worst loss, because they had the WS title in Mo’s glove and couldn’t close it out. But for me, the 2001 WS will always be back-to-back 9th inning comebacks and Jeter as Mr. November. That team provided enough good memories to balance the bad ones. The memory of the 2004 ALCS is just one giant black-hole of suck.

It also has to do with the wording of the question, I think. “Most painful for you to watch” and “continues to haunt you today” need not be the same thing. You’re right Steve, Game 4 and 5 of 2004 are worse now, because a break the other way and they win. But at the time they didn’t seem like such a big deal, so weren’t so “painful” (although I first got worried after game 5).

Rethinking that game is worse than any horror movie I could imagine. Those were stick figures out on the field, people I never wanted to see in pinstripes again: Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez. Stepford players who stopped by to collect their paychecks.

By all baseball standards, the Yankees had a chance to play and win that game, at home, but they were corpses, zombies.

No question that game was the worst in the history of the Yankees.

Leaving that series I guess I would point to the 2005 Game 5 vs the Angels with Sheffield and Rodriguez continuing to bumble and stumble in the field and at the plate. At least one of them is finally gone. What will it take to send the other far, far away?

I never felt more sucker-punched than by Damon’s grand slam in game seven in ’04. But the most painful was game seven in 2001. They were about to win their fourth straight World Series AND it was SOOOO perfect: 9/11 shakes the world and devastates New York; the Yankees have TWO back-to-back miracle victories; they are about to win a Series they had NO business winning. And a little bloop single ruined it all. It just doesn’t fit. It didn’t make sense. It was like God was saying, “The magic is over, boys,” and the Yankees haven’t had any magic (in the playoffs) since then. I can still remember gnawing on my hand watching that last inning. 2001 hurts the most because winning that Series — in the way it looked like the Yankees would — would have meant so much to New York.

Steve, this survey and your recent mention of those year-in-review tapes from MSG gave me a thought: you should write a little year-in-review yourself: a little highlight reel of the best moments in ’06 (Melky’s catch, certain pitching performances, a breakdown of the Boston massacre — my personal favorite game was Giambi’s two-homer night), etc.

Don’t have time to look through the last month of posts, but I don’t think you did this already.

Game 7 in 2001 was painful, but it was the situation you’d ask for everytime, the lead in the ninth with Mo on the mound. It was a fluke, the type of hit that Mo is most likely to give up, and even though you can argue with bringing the infield in, it was good fortune for the Dbacks and bad fortune for us.

The ones that hurt me are the ones Joe Torre blew with his awful bullpen management. I voted for game 5 of the 04 ALCS, because if Torre didn’t ride Gordo to the ground during the season, he probably has some gas left. Additionally, he brought in Gordo to face the heart of the Sox lineup, saving Mariano for what was still a good set of hitters, but not Ramirez and Ortiz. He was sticking hard and fast to the rule that Mariano pitches the ninth, Gordon the eighth, and it cost the Yanks that game.

Game 4 incidentally was yet another Torre blunder, in my view since A) he sets himself up for Game 5 by using Mariano in the 8th (though if you’re gonna use him ANYWAY, bring him to face the Monsters), B) Roberts is in for one reason and one reason only, and they couldn’t stop him, and C) Quantrill was the worst choice out of the pen, I moaned when he walked out.

No matter what anyone says there is no series more painful than the 04 ALCS, and there is no better blueprint for how Torre crappily manages.

I picked Game 7 of the 2001 WS as the most painful single defeat because at that point, I wasn’t conditioned to do anything except expect victory. Thus, the painful loss was far more crushing. I take each loss less hard now, so much so that the Game 4 loss vs. Detroit this year only affected me for a few hours before I moved on.

No question the 2004 ALCS is the worst series, but no one game stands out as much as Game 7 of the 2001 WS. The Yanks were about to clinch in Games 4 and 5 and even Game 6 was right for the taking. Game 7 was humiliating but the pain had already set in after Game 6.

As to blaming Torre for the 2004 ALCS, I think that’s a bit extreme. He made some tactical errors but it can’t all be on him for how poorly Brown/Vazquez pitched in Game 7 or for how the team could muster absolutely no offense against a pitching staff that was just as exhausted and overworked as ours. A team effort in the collapse, from Torre right down to the 25th man.

It’s GOT to be game 7, 2001. We had a lead with MO on the mound. how did we not win?! What kills me more than the blooper is Mo’s bad throw to 2nd. ARRRGH. 95 times out of 100, he makes a perfect throw and turns 2, and the game is over. and the Yanks have their 4th straight! and the comebacks from the previous games are all the more important. Soriano would’ve been the hero. He’d probably still be a Yankee if not for Mo blowing the game.

not to mention the worst part of all: 6 weeks after 9-11. It was SUPPOSED to be a healing time for NYC. the city deserved (and needed) the championship that year over any other.

Game 7, 2001 series. As soon as Rivera threw the ball into center field (man on first, no outs, sac bunt) I knew the game was over. Womack’s double then set up the bloop. I can remember it like it was yesterday.

But Game 5 1995 was worse. I was having trouble sleeping for a week after that one. It had been so long since they’d been to the post-season, and they grabbed the Wild Card in such an improbable way, winning all those games down the stretch. Leyritz’ rain driven home run. Plus Mattingly … sigh.

kind of surprising to me. game 7 2001 wasn’t too painful for me. it was a great game and i was surprised the yankees had been able to fight back th way they did that series. no game in 2004 bugged me much, mostly because i wrote it off to clutchiness – meaning, in my view, really good luck combined with talent, rather than pure talent. i voted for game 3 alds 2006, because i found the lack of yankee offense pathetic, and the games weren’t even very entertaining.

2001 was tough because the series was there for the taking. Up 3-2 heading back to AZ with Pettitte and Clemens going, I thought that it was near guaranteed that the Yanks would win. And they were 2 outs away.